Writing Musings

I came across this link listing several quotes and philosophies of famous writers and thought I would offer my musings on just a few of them.

One rule Ernest Hemingway apparently lived by was the need to use short sentences and short first paragraphs. You can definitely see that in his works, but I think that using short sentences alone is a mistake. I think one thing it is important for a writer to do is to use a variety of sentence lengths. When it comes to sentence lengths and word choices, it doesn’t hurt to add some variety. As for having short first paragraphs, that isn’t necessarily a bad idea . . . as long as you can think of a really good short first paragraph.
Mark Twain once said: “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” It’s obviously meant to be humorous, but there’s a grain of truth in it. Use “find and replace” to delete as many instances of “very” as you can. Do the same with words like “somehow” and “just”–there are certain empty words that add nothing to a work, and you should remove as many of those as you can.
Anton Chekhov said: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” This is one of the best examples of “show, don’t tell” out there. It’s much easier said than done, but you should always keep it in mind.
Truman Capote said: “I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.” Editing is an amazing thing. Just because you have good ideas and got them on paper doesn’t mean that what is before you is actually good. You need to edit the heck out of anything you write if you expect people to take a second glance.
Stephen King advises, “Read a lot and write a lot.” If you can’t do both of those, there is no sense in trying to be a writer. This is probably the best writing advice you can ever get. The more you read and write, the better you’ll get.